The Long Way Home
by yesmilady
Summary: Vincent runs away towards home. [Father/son relationships, general dysfunction, darkness and fluff.]
1. Prologue

Author's note: Alternate Universe. Very. I'm going for both dark and heartwarming here, which will be the main theme of the entire series. Future chapters/stories related to this universe will focus on Vincent, Sephiroth, Cloud and team Avalanche.

Un-beta'd.

**The Long Way Home**

The lab assistant's name was Geoffrey. He and Vincent hadn't been friends but they had been on amiable terms before… _before_. Vincent tried to make it quick and clean, hadn't _meant_ for Geoffrey's head to twist as far around as it did. Bones and skin broke gave away with a crunching sound, detaching with ease that simply wasn't possible.

Like most of the lab-assistants, Geoffrey was wearing his security pass on a tie around his neck. Vincent let the head drop from his hands, but kept the security pass. He was confident it would still let him out of the room despite the blood that coated it. He felt a twinge of deja-vu as he swiped the card against the security panel on the door. It buzzed him through, and he wondered when blood spattered security cards became a thing of the norm for him.

* * *

><p><em>She smelled like lilies and antiseptic fluid. On anyone else he would have found the combination repulsive but all he could do was to draw her closer and breathe her in. She clung to him, coming undone under his hands and mouth and cock. <em>

_In these moments, he loved everything about her. He loved her fierce mind and deceptively wholesome beauty. He loved how her fingernails dug into his thighs and the way her back arched when she climaxed. He loved the rich, throaty moans she couldn't quite bottle up. He loved her, and in remembering those moments, he could almost forgive her. _

* * *

><p>"Please be quiet," Vincent murmured.<p>

The frightened family huddled closer together in the corner, as if it could shield them somehow from him, he who invaded their home. The mother cooed wordlessly to her infant, rocking him gently in a futile attempt to convey to the child the urgency of the situation. Her blonde hair was in disarray.

Another helicopter passed overhead. Heading west, Vincent gathered. His (former) colleagues knew him well, but it was a mutual advantage. For a time, Vincent would allow them to exhaust their resources while they looked for a man on the run.

"Quiet," Vincent repeated, softly.

Something precious and fragile shifted within the bundle of blankets next to him. The memory of Geoffrey's flesh giving away under his hands flashed in his mind and caused him to still. Instead he let his (human) hand hover above a silvery head, smiling when the child reached up for him with chubby little hands.

For a moment, the voices in his head were silent.

* * *

><p>"<em>Vincent Valentine," he introduced himself to the woman who didn't bother looking up when he entered the laboratory. "I've been assigned to your protection, ma'am."<em>

_She looked up from her microscope, eyeing him with sudden interest. "Valentine?" she asked. "You're Grimoire's boy?" _

_Vincent's mouth twitched for an instant before resuming his practiced poker-face. Much was whispered about him in the company halls these days. The Valentines were once one of the richest families in the continent. Nothing remained of that prestige now except for Vincent, the bastard son of a Valentine man of science and his Wutanese maid. _

_This woman knew his father personally, though. In fact, she had been there the day of the accident that claimed Grimoire's life. Vincent had read the memo. _

"_It's good to finally meet you," she said with a small smile, and lied through her teeth. "Your father spoke highly of you."_

* * *

><p>The cargo ship creaked and shifted with every strong wave. Vincent was confident she didn't have many trips left in her, but he only needed one.<p>

It was good to be out in the open for once. Trying to jump borders while being hunted down by a powerful mega corporation was difficult on its own. Doing it with a baby in his care was ten times more difficult. Somehow, they managed.

He looked down at the child in his arms. The bottle was still a quarter-way full, but the child's eyelids were beginning to drop. Vincent smiled, and shifted the bottle just enough to coax the child to resume his feeding. "Almost there," he murmured. "Sephiroth."

Sephiroth for a boy, Qliphoth for a girl.

She came across the names in an ancient book when she had been only sixteen and fell in love there and then. Vincent didn't remember how the conversation took a turn toward _baby names_ of all things, but he remembered a lazy afternoon in a married woman's bed, drunk with love and Hojo's whiskey. He had laughed at her confession, even when she glared. Her eyes twinkled though, and he thought to himself that he could live with those names, if it meant he could live with her, too.

* * *

><p>"<em>Deported?" Vincent asked incredulously. He was eighteen, home for the first time since university happened. He wasn't expected for a whole week yet, but the welcome he received when he burst into the servants' quarters wasn't the one he had been expecting. The new maid told him some of what she knew, and later that night, Vincent's father filled him in on the rest.<em>

_Grimoire sighed, rubbing his knuckles against his tired eyes. "Her work permit expired," he explained again, "there was nothing I could have done…"_

You could have married her_, Vincent hadn't voiced the thought. It was an old, and futile, discussion. Instead, he demanded, "You let my mother be led out of her house in handcuffs?" _

"_It wasn't her house, Vincent. " Grimoire stressed, "Despite the… circumstances."_

* * *

><p>Vincent hadn't been to the village in years. The first time he came here, it had taken him weeks just to track it down, and then a few more just to recover from the mosquito bites and the fever he had developed on his journey.<p>

Vincent turned the makeshift sling so Sephiroth could see the village for himself. It was a poor village, smaller than what Vincent had remembered, but the people here were proud and self-sufficient. Most importantly, the house at the top of the hill was still there.

Vincent's enhanced eyesight allowed him a glimpse into the house, and he chuckled when he noticed that his mother's once ebony hair had turned completely silver.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N –

I understand the prologue was a little confusing, because of the time jumps, and it being Vincent's headspace. Vincent who just woke up after being stuffed full of demons and Mako and what not. So yes, that was intentional, I swear :)

I should probably say, the story follows my own brain canon, that's established on juuuuuust the original game. And even that's a stretch. It's been bouncing around my head for a long time now, and honestly I don't think it would be of interest to many people beside myself. It will be dark, very very dark, in the segments to come. I will warn for each chapter individually, but please know it will probably be every warning under the sun.

I'm still putting it out there, as an incentive to myself more than anything. It's not beta-read and I'm editing things as I go along.

Chapter One

The Valentine manor had already been a relic when Vincent was borne. The family came from old money, a currency hard to lose, but that was all they had. A series of tragedies and a few wrong financial choices had put them out of work. In the past, the Valentines were the biggest players in the Energy market, but traditional energy production was being overrun with the newer, cleaner, more efficient Mako Energy, and ShinRa Inc had the monopoly over it.

Vincent's grandfather, Voltaire Valentine, hadn't lived to see his company fall apart, but he had lived long enough to bury five children. His last and youngest, Grimoire, was a clever man in his own right, but too scattered-minded to run a business, let alone take on ShinRa Inc. Voltaire hadn't been dead for more than a year before Grimoire had signed over what was left of the family business to ShinRa.

Vincent had been too young to understand all of that at the time. He knew, however, that his father had taken over ShinRa's science department when he signed over the family company. Grimoire began splitting his time between trips to Midgar, and shutting himself inside his laboratory at the Valentine manor. It only made sense to relocate to Midgar eventually.

The sheltered bubble of Vincent's childhood had burst shortly after that. Before Midgar, Mother was simply Mother, who took care of him, told him stories of magic and about the strange beauty of her homeland. At Midgar, mother was the family servant… and his father's mistress.

In looks, Vincent took after both of his parents. He had his aristocratic father's sharp features, but enough of his mother's looks to be labelled different. Bastard children were hardly a rarity, but few were reared as openly as he had been.

Vincent's mother came from _Kazoku, _a small, mostly unknown village in central-eastern Wutai. That area of the country was of little interest, known mostly for its people's unusual red eyes, and little else besides. They were as far apart from the political climate as people could be, but that hardly mattered to the people of Midgar.

"Mongrel" they nicknamed him - the adults with facetious fondness, and their children with snide honesty. Back then, the tension between the two nations was on the rise, and both the news and the school yard was rife with horror stories of the Wutain and their cruel ways.

Vincent's mother had wept when he had returned home after school one day, and asked her if it was true that the Emperor of Wutai practiced blood magic, and that she left because the emperor demanded every family's first borne as sacrifice.

After his mother was deported, Vincent went after her. _Kazoku _was a secluded little village, far inland continental Wutai and surrounded by vast acres of jungle growth. It had taken him weeks to find it. Mother had been overjoyed to see him, but she refused to go back. And Vincent refused to stay.

Despite everything, Vincent loved Midgar. Ever an introvert, he would explore the city in his free time, above the plate and below. He loved how it never stopped. He loved his mother, too, but she was so different, too different, to be part of the life he wanted.

His father's prominent position in ShinRa meant that he never lacked for anything. He was very young when he joined ShinRa himself. It was clear from the start that he was being groomed to take over ShinRa's Department of Administrative Research. His fellow Turks resented him for it, and he had been determined to prove himself, taking on every mission and practicing twice as much as company policy dictated.

That life seemed so far away now. He never thought he'd ever return to _Kazoku._

A small rustle from overhead brought Vincent out of his musing. Lips quirking, he stilled, focusing his heightened senses on his surroundings. Vincent would often scout the jungle grounds surrounding _Kazoku. _The monster sightings were becoming increasingly more frequent, and they seemed to grow larger with every passing day.

Faster than reason allowed a human being to be, Vincent leapt. He landed on his feet, barely disturbing the jungle floor, arms full of a squirming little boy.

"I almost got you this time, Daddy!" the white hair child exclaimed, wriggling in Vincent's arms.

"Almost," Vincent agreed, and plucked a wayward leaf from his son's hair. It was due for a trim, he thought.

At almost four years of age, Sephiroth was far stronger and faster than he should have been. Whatever they did to him before Vincent stole him from the labs, it made him different. Sephiroth's bright green eyes glowed with a strange inner light always struck Vincent with a twinge of deja-vu.

_Life of the planet_, one of the voices suggested.

_Perhaps_, Vincent thought back. The Others weren't as omniscient as they tried to come across, that he knew. He kissed the tip of his son's nose before setting him down on the jungle ground. Immediately, Sephiroth scurried ahead, interest piqued by something or another. In many ways, he was just a normal child.

"Don't run too far ahead," Vincent warned. "There might be Garudas nearby." The flying beasts were becoming a regular menace as of late, flying in packs in increasing proximity to the village.

Vincent's concern was probably unwarranted. It wasn't a week ago that he had seen Sephiroth swat one of the monsters away like it was nothing more than a fly of an unusual size. Sephiroth had cried his weight in tears afterwards, because the annoying cricket never got back up.

"I won't!" Sephiroth called back, only to suddenly stop in his tracks. The boy tilted his head to the side, listening.

"Daddy, what's that?"

A few moments passed before Vincent was able to hear it as well. He froze, awash in horror that couldn't have been brought by the appearance of a hundred Garudas. The Helicopter was a long distance away, but gaining rapidly. In two long strides, Vincent gathered the startled child into his arms, ducking under particularly thick flora.

He waited until the helicopter passed, and then waited some more, until he could no longer see the reds of the ShinRa logo. Letting out a long breath, he hugged the child close to his chest.

"Let's go see what your grandmother made for supper, hmm?" he said in a faux cheerful tone.

Sephiroth was much more subdued on their way back to the village, holding his father's hand the whole way. The jungle was far too quiet, or perhaps the racket of the helicopter simply made it seem too quiet in comparison. Vincent didn't mind, he needed to think.

_How could they be here?_ he thought. Wutai was supposed to be safe, outside of ShinRa's reach. Vincent didn't think anyone in ShinRa knew the location of his mother's birthplace, but inside Wutai, it wouldn't take them long to find it. There were not that many places where red eyes were a common feature.

It was time to leave.


	3. Chapter 2

"Can I help you with anything, Doctor…?" the decorative female outside of President ShinRa's office squinted at his name tag, only to realise it was blank. He never bothered to scribble his name in the little note, or even unpin it from his lab coat. Such mundane concerns rarely graced his consciousness for long.

"Professor," he said, sternly. "_Hojo_. He's expecting me."

The woman quirked a perfectly plucked eyebrow, before tapping away at her sleek computer. Everything in the ShinRa headquarters was sleek and expensive looking, secretaries included.

She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry Professor, Mr. ShinRa is in a meeting and asked not to be disturbed."

He narrowed his eyes. "I've flown halfway across the continent for this meeting!"

"Sir, if you'd like to wait…"

"Listen here, you little-"

"My, my, this is a turn up," an all too familiar voice piped in, startling him.

He turned to face her, scowling. His ex-wife looked hardly a day older than the last he'd seen her, four years before. She hadn't been happy about being excluded from the Jenova Project, and more specifically, Specimen S.

It was a spiteful move, he'd admit, going straight to ShinRa to voice his concern - possible latent maternal instincts compromising the experiment, or somesuch. The last he'd heard, she was transferred to a research facility in Banora. The department of Agricultural Research, if he was not mistaken.

"Lucrecia," he sneered. "It's been too long."

She smiled, her teeth gleaming sharp in the fluorescent light. She turned to the secretary. "Melinda, would you be a dear and copy this in larger print?" she handed a thick folder to the secretary, smiling in an exasperated way. "You know Alonzo," she added, the president's first name flowing easily from her lips, "I keep telling him he needs glasses, but he never listens. _Men_." She added with a shake of her head.

"I didn't know the president was so interested in genetically enhanced apples." Hojo said, narrowing his eyes.

"Among other things." She smiled sweetly. Her heels clicked as she stepped back into the president's office, shutting the door behind her.

Fuming, Hojo followed. Melinda squeaked indignantly behind him, but he paid her no mind. Lucrecia was already seated, crossed legged and smirking behind her steepled hands. The president startled by his appearance, but recovered quickly.

"Professor Hojo!" the president rumbled, standing to shake his hand. "What an unexpected pleasure. Please, join us. We were just discussing the recent developments in the SOLDIER Initiative."

Hojo's eyebrows leaped to his hairline. "The SOLDIER Initiative?"

Lucrecia, the she-devil, shook her head in despair. "Alonzo, that topic is beyond the Professor's security clearance."

The president thumped his forehead. "Oh, I'll be damned. I can't keep track of all the projects you lab rats are working on, let alone who is working on what."

Hojo very much doubted that. Swallowing his outrage, he sat down. "Well, now that the secret is out," he said, "I wouldn't object to learn more. Professional curiosity, you understand." He smiled thinly.

The president's eyes sparkled, calculating. "Hmm, yes. I suppose you did make this project possible, in a way. I am referring to, of course, to that unfortunate incident in Nibelheim."

Hojo gritted his teeth. "I'm confident we'll be able to replicate the specimen very soon. We've been making great breakthroughs. The last volunteer lasted halfway through the third trimester-"

The president waved his hand dismissively. "My dear professor," he said, "no one is doubting the value and quality of your work. However-" he took a hearty sip of his coffee, grimacing when discovering it had gone cold.

"However?" Hojo pressed.

"However, the international atmosphere is deteriorating, Professor. We have a responsibility to our populace. To protect the people who put their trust in our company." The president thumped his desk for emphasis. "We don't need super soldiers in eighteen years, we need them _now_."

"All the subjects imbued with Mako past the embryonic stage perished," Hojo stated. "It can't be done."

"Actually," Lucrecia interjected, "that's not quite the case. May I, Alonzo?" she gestured at the folder on the president's desk.

"Of course, my dear."

She pulled it open, leafing through a number of documents. "We've found that by combining genetic information from the original Specimen S and gradually introducing mako energy into the subjects is producing great results."

She pulled two personnel files, before presenting them to him. "We have two promising candidates already. For the most part, the results are better the younger the subjects are, but we've been able to introduce the modifications to older subjects as well."

Hojo was incensed. "How did you get your hands on Specimen S' genetic material?" he demanded.

She dared rolling her eyes at him. "I made a request through the procurement department, of course. You don't have any rights to company property, after all."

"That was my research!" he screeched, and stood so fast his chair tumbled backwards. "You had no right to it, you stupid harpy!"

"_Professor_." the president barked, friendly facade dropped. "There's no need to be melodramatic. We all acknowledge your contribution to this research."

"Specimen S is still out there, Mr. ShinRa," Hojo said. "You wouldn't need _soldiers _to take over Wutai, just _one_."

The president's mouth twisted in something that might have been a smile, if not for the steel in his eyes. "I'm counting on it, Professor." He pressed a button on his desktop. "Melinda, my dear, bring us more coffee, would you?" Glancing back to Hojo, he added, "and get me Veld, as soon as possible."

"Yes, Mr. ShinRa."

The president sat back in his chair. "Now, Professor, do sit down. I'd like to share with you some of the progress we've been having in Wutai…"


End file.
